The pros have spoken. They want an element of Spy Party in their CS:GO - the ability to ‘fake plant’ C4, just as the CTs can ‘fake diffuse’ bombs. Valve have accommodated with a subtle reworking of which sound files play where. While all players will hear the bomb’s initialisation sound when planted, only the player doing the planting will hear the code typing noise that follows - allowing for feats of stage-terrorism.

In the interests of further supporting sneakery, they haven’t stopped there.

Similar rules will now apply to every item in the game when picked up. In practice that means an item grabbed while running will prompt a noise every nearby player can hear - but an item picked up while moving silently will only be audible to that player.

All of this newly selective hearing will likely mean more clandestine killings and extra arch deception, which I think we can all agree is a lovely thing and perhaps the perfect draw to pull more Spies over from TF2.

Elsewhere in last night’s update, Valve also implemented the ability to link Steam accounts to their Twitch equivalent. You’ll find a direct link to the streaming site in the ‘Watch’ tab, and more stats in Spectator Graphs - namely Average Damage per Round, Headshot Percentage, and Total Cash Earned.

All in all, some major changes for a game Valve seem determined to distinguish from its namesake. See the full patch notes below - which feature a UI change suggested just a handful of hours ago by a player:

Gameplay

Changed C4 planting sounds based on pro feedback. When planting the bomb, it plays an initialization sound that everyone can hear, but ONLY the player planting will hear the code typing sounds. This makes fake planting possible (similar to fake diffusing as a CT).

All items now follow the same pick up sound rules (grenades, C4, weapons, defuse kits, etc):

If a player picks up an item while running, it plays a pickup sound that everyone can hear.

If a player picks up an item while moving silently, it plays a subtle pickup sound to ONLY the player picking it up.

Weapons, grenades, and remaining money are now displayed as icons above player heads during freezetime. (Thanks R-arcHoniC)

Fixed overhead teammate arrows not showing up in some cases.

Fixed automatic observer target selection failing to find a controllable bot when a player was killed.

Maps

Cache:

Fixed lighting on prop in CT spawn.

Fixed buggy wallbangs at A main and B halls.

Fixed issue with dropping bomb behind spools in mid warehouse.

Mirage:

Increased size of Bombsite A plant area.

Opened up skybox in T spawn.

Improvements to visibility throughout the map. (Thanks andzie!)

General optimizations.

Smoothed out movement in Bombsite B.

UI

Added ability to link your Steam account to Twitch.tv account.

Added Link to Twitch.tv button in Watch tab.

Added more stats to the Spectator Graphs: Average Damage per Round, Headshot Percentage, Total Cash Earned.

Fixed uncased knives with no finish displaying incorrectly in the GOTV and Demo UI.

The change in the how sounds work may seem small but it is massive for competitive CS play. These changes will change the way i play, no longer will i walk around items in fear of the other team hearing me pick the items up.